Median Split of Sample

Many investigations measure some variable of interest, such as the level of communication apprehension using the PRCA (personal report of communication apprehension), and then divide the sample into two groups based on the median score. The median score is the score that divides the sample of scores into the top 50% and the bottom 50%. In a sample that is normally distributed, the mean, median, and mode scores should be identical, although sampling error may cause some variability in the observed scores when compared. The process of the division of scores based on the median provides two groups of participants: those scoring low on the PRCA and those persons scoring high on the PRCA. These two groups should be equal in size. These ...